Potshot

By Robert B. Parker

This was another audiobook version of a Parker Spenser novel. This one takes place a little earlier than some of the other Spenser novels I've listened to, but it didn't really matter. What happens in subsequent books didn't rely on events in this one and I was already familiar with several characters who make cameos in this story.

I think it'd be best to just quote Orson Scott Card about reviewing Parker novels:

Is there any point in reviewing any more Robert B. Parker novels? They all have his spare, witty prose; they all bear witness to the religion of talk therapy; they all have Parker's unique mix of moral quandary and strangely satisfying violence.*

Potshot involves a recently widowed blonde beauty, Mary Lou Buckman, who hires Spenser to find her husband's killer. He heads out to the remote Arizona resort town of Potshot. There besides getting a disappointingly but unsurpring little amount of help, he goes elsewhere to find out more about Mary Lou and her late husband, Mark. After some old fashioned investigative work, he starts to realize that there is more going on in Potshot than a single murder.

This novel is just as good as most of the other Spenser novels. It has an engaging plot with several layers. And it features great cameos from several Spenser-verse characters, including

• Hawk
• Teddy Sapp
• Cholo
• Vinny Morris
• Bobby Horse
• Benedict Fortunado III

And to quote Card one more time:

Look, Parker's novels are what they are. If you love them, as I do, you overlook Parker's preaching about talk therapy and you enjoy the depth of thought, the elegance of writing, the adventure and mystery. For those not in that category, I can only say: I'm sorry for you. You're missing something truly fine.*

External links

• Potshot from Robert B. Parker's website
• Roscoe Jenkins, Idol, Riley, Roumania, Shopdropping from Orson Scott Card's official website (source of above quotes)
• Potshot from Wikipedia

^*I should mention that here, Card was referring to Parker's novel Stranger in Paradise. But, despite being taken out of context, it holds true for all Parker novels.